Vintage loco comes to the rescue after popular Snowdonia path washed away by floods

 

Vintage loco comes to the rescue after popular Snowdonia path washed away by floods

Another welcome return to this blog for one of my favourite sort of happenings - the "vintage machinery comes to the rescue" story.  We have seen it before, mainly with steam traction engines and road rollers but sometimes with steam trains and here is another instance of the latter.

On this occasion the engine in question is Lilla, a feisty mid-sized 0-4-0 quarry locomotive originally built in 1891 for hauling slate from the Nantile Valley near Gwynedd in North Wales.  This she continued to do for the next sixty-four years, moving a few miles northeast to the Penrhyn quarry at Bethesda in 1928, before finally being retired in 1955 following a failed boiler test.  Purchased by a private individual in 1963 Lilla spent the following 9 years undergoing restoration before returning to the heritage railway network in 1972.  Moving around the country she finally found herself in her current home at the Ffestiniog & West Highland Railway in 1993 where she has been well cared-for over the intervening three decades.  This has included numerous overhauls and replacement of worn parts, with a brand new boiler being fitted in 2004. 

source - Wikimedia Commons/Hefin Owen

It is no doubt this high level of preservation that allowed Lilla to step up and come to the aid of the National Trust when recent flooding caused part of a nearby tourist trail to be washed away.  Already a common sight on the F&WHR line pulling everything from quarry wagons to carriages full of children, Lilla seemed the obvious choice to haul the 30 tons of aggregate needed to repair the damaged path and I am delighted to see that she performed the task as though she'd never been away, proving once again how - provided they are maintained in good condition - vintage machines can still fulfil their original purpose.  Kudos must also go to the National Trust Cymru for approaching the F&WHR with the idea of using Lilla to help out - the sort of thinking one is glad to see in a heritage (or indeed any) organisation and one which I hope we will continue to see more of, as people realise that machines like Lilla still have a lot left to give.

Hurt cyclist rescued by Avon Valley Railway steam train

Hurt cyclist rescued by Avon Valley Railway steam train

Here's a story with a happy ending and a novel but effective way of getting an injured party to the hospital. Once again it is steam power to the rescue!

In all seriousness it was a unique set of circumstances, to have a cycle path right next to a heritage railway line but too far away from either a road or field for the emergency services to access, and with a steam engine just handy. Hats off to both the paramedics for their quick thinking in coming up with such an original solution to a difficult problem and also to the train operators for getting a train to the cyclist and conveying him to a place where he could be easily transferred to hospital with all possible speed.

All's well that ends well and it sounds as though the fellow is well on the way to recovery. An "interesting experience" for everyone involved and not just the paramedics I'll warrant, plus an extra bit of glory for an old and worthy locomotive!